Recommended Prenatal Vitamins

DISCLAIMER: The information provided in this document is not intended as medical advice. Always consult your qualified healthcare professional before changing your supplements or diet. Jennifer Hood and The Emma Network assume no liability for the use or misuse of any information found within this post. If you have questions about supplements, including those listed in this document and NOT listed in this document, please defer to your healthcare provider.

In this post, I have recommended several different prenatal vitamins focusing on quality, safety, formulation which is based on up to date research and adequate nutrition content. I cover your traditional capsule based supplements and also give options for anyone who isn't able to take capsules like powders and chewables.

I do include one gummy vitamin as well, but I encourage this to be saved for the instances where you simply can not get any other kind of vitamin down as it is a source of added sugar and usually has the bare minimum amount of nutrients (with some completely left out) to keep the taste palatable.

Depending on any dietary restrictions or preferences you have (vegetarian diet, food aversions, low animal protein, etc), you may need to consider adding additional supplements.

Learn more about nutrients and other supplements you may want to consider during pregnancy in my course: Nutrition Through Pregnancy ← linked here!

CAPSULE VITAMINS:

1.  Full Well Prenatal

• Nutrients based on current research
• Exceeds nutrients of most prenatal vitamins on the market
• Extensive testing for heavy metal contamination & potency on every single batch (rare in the industry) 

2.  Seeking Health "Optimal Prenatal"

• Nutrients based on current research
• Exceeds nutrients of most prenatal vitamins on the market
• Extensive testing for heavy metal contamination and potency on every single batch (rare in the industry) 

3. Seeking Health "Prenatal Essentials"

• Less capsules, however: 
• May need more Vitamin D
• No choline & low in minerals (these are “bulky” nutrients that take up a lot of space in the capsule so to limit capsules, these are decreased)
• Same extensive testing done as the optimal prenatal 

4. Needed "Prenatal Multi Capsules"

• Nutrients based on current research
• Exceeds nutrients of most prenatal vitamins on the market
• Uses third party testing for contamination and potency

5. Needed "Prenatal Multi Essentials"

• Less capsules, however:
• Contains about half or less of most of the nutrients compared to the prenatal multi capsules
• Uses third party testing for contamination and potency

POWDERS, CHEWABLES & GUMMY VITAMINS:

1. Needed Prenatal Vitamin Powder

• Similar levels of nutrients to their "Prenatal Multi Capsules" 
• Vanilla flavor to help with taste 
• Have to mix it into something cold like a smoothie, may be limiting and is pricer than the capsules

2. Seeking Health Prenatal Essentials Chewable

• Slightly lower concentrations of some nutrients compared compared to the capsules
• Still higher nutrients compared to other chewable/gummy prenatal vitamins on the market and even more than many capsules

3. Seeking Health Optimal Prenatal W/ Collagen

• Similar levels of nutrients to their "optimal" prenatal
• Has added benefit of extra protein

4. Smarty Pants Gummy

• Contains some omega-3's, although only low amounts
• One of the only prenatal gummies that uses the bioavailable forms of many nutrients
• Would recommend only taking a gummy vitamin if you can not tolerate capsules, powders or other chewables options due to the added sugars

In addition to considering the quality of the actual supplement, make sure you are also purchasing from a reputable source. You may have seen in the news many instances where supplements purchased from Amazon have been tampered with or are discarded products being resold. You always want to purchase straight from the manufacturer or a reputable supplement dispensary. 

I have linked all of the recommended supplements directly to their manufacturer's home page or in the case of Smarty Pants, you can find them on My FullScript Account (an online dispensary) which you can make an account and purchase from.

FullScript purchases directly from the manufacturer, offers fast shipping, excellent customer service, and you'll receive a 10% discount every time).

If you're looking for any additional supplements such as: vitamin D, collagen, protein powders, probiotics or DHA you can review my protocols and favorites lists on Fullscript for additional recommendations.

As a reminder, the information provided in this document is not intended as medical advice. Always consult your qualified healthcare professional before changing your supplements or diet.